Wednesday, 25 July 2012

As a (another) small side line to Medievals I´m going to make a small Imagi-nation army for the Federation of Bodstonia.
General idea is that it will be based in the 18th centuary and to use any sets that have Tricorns to form the regiments. That Native american indians get to play a role won´t actually mean that it´s in America..we´re talking parallel universe here :-D
Flags will be the big headache but there´s time.
These bods were kindly sent to me by Dalauppror from Dalauppror Blog. They came at exactly the right moment as I was slowly running my ideas for medievals into a corner and the break was just the thing. Mind you..looking on his blog today gave me another idea (he always has great ideas) for dark age bods.
Many thanks mate :-D

The bods arrived still attached to the sprue but already black primed and there were some clever little conversions already carried out :-D For instance, the one far right was a drummer. Why this colour uniform? Because the guy who raised and funds this regiment is called Colonel Coleman and he like´s his Mustard.

Monday, 23 July 2012

I haven´t built a complete barrel for years but Anne from Annes Attic asked recently " Do you have any creative ideas for how to make one using something I'd find
around the house?"
Firstly I thought to use the method for the Tonnelon but this would mean restricting the size of the barrel to any available perfume bottle tops or similar..so I went back to a method I´ve used in the past. A bit time consuming but it means that it´s made from something that anyone can find around the house..cardboard.
The following "how to" looks long and involved but it really isn´t. You can produce a "one off" barrel to the size of your choice in less than an hour.
The measurements I give are not fixed but only for reference.

The end result.

What´s needed? A pen, a ruler, scissors, a compass, some thin card (like the stuff from a cereal box) and some PVA glue

Mark out a circle on a sheet of card. I´ve chosen 6cm´s and 8cms. These are basically the top and bottom of the barrel. The other two lines (about 3mm´s) above and below these lines are explained later. Obviously the distance, between the two liness and from the centre point will determine the end height and width of the barrel. A exact formula as to how to measure this out to make a certain sized barrel I cannot give..it´s a bit trial and error on the first one, then you can adjust the sizes to suit.

Cut out a section .(about 1/4 of the circle) between the 8 and 6cm lines, leaving off the extra 3mm´s and fold as in the pic. Here you can alter the slope of the barrel. The tighter you overlap the section, the less the angle, the fatter or tinner the barrel. Apparently roughly 5 degrees from vertical is a usual angle for a barrel. Use this section to mark off and cut out another section for the other half of the barrel. . Mark a line where the overlap comes and use this as a stencil to mark the second section so the overlaps are as near the same. These two "cones" will form the top and bottom halves of the barrel.

Place the two "cones" smallest side down onto some card and smear some PVA along the insides. Let this dry and then cut the outer excess card away.

Before glueing the tow "cones" use one of them again as a template to mark off twice the length onto the remaining circle on the card. Measure the outside (the line 3mm above the 8cm line) I did this using a piece of spare card. measure and divide the length. I used 1cm divisions as the barrel here was 11 cm´s long.

I´ve now marked 22 sections @ 1cm along the outside line and joined these lines up to the center point. Each section, when cut out will form the barrel staves. These could be divided into 1/2 cm sections which would give thinner staves.

Glue thin strips of card to the small ends of the "cones" to make the barrel lids. When dry trim of the excess.

Cut out the Staves. The top 3mm you don´t need but retain the bottom 3 mm at the smallest end. Curve them slightly to fit by pressing them over a round surface such as a pen.

Glue the staves onto the cones. Basically glue the first stave along the edge of the joint fomed when glueing the cones together, then the next one with a tiny gap and so on. The bottom of the stave should be flush with the bottom of the cone and 3mm above the top. Make sure the staves of each half line up.(see top picture) The last stave will inevitably have to be cut smaller than the rest as each time a stave is added you leave a small gap to give a 3D impression on seperate pieces. This is the same with real barrels where sometimes you will see a bigger or alternated small and big staves used. Another thing..you rarely use all the staves intended..I marked out for ten but have only used nine. When dry, glue the two halves together.

Cut some strips using the left over outer rings (the 3mm above and below the 8 and 6cm lines) These will form the 4 top and bottom barrel hoops. Also cut one strip about 4mm wide for the middle hoop. Work them a bit so they start to form hoops naturally when left lying. I do this in the same way you´d make curled ribbons for a present decoration..

Measure these against the barrel and glue together, making sure to observe which way up they are finally to go as they are now slightly conical. The two rings on the left of the picture are slightly smaller than the two on the left. As a rule of thumb; if the two smaller rings fit inside the bigger ones then they are the right size.

Simply glue the hoops onto the barrel and paint.

If I was going to make a lot of barrels I would use plastic card or greenstuff and them make a mold of the thing and cast as many as I wanted..but for a one off (for a dio or whatever) I wouldn´t bother. ﻿﻿

Saturday, 21 July 2012

They were sold as orcs..(I think) when I bought them over 15 years ago. What make they are, I´ve no idea but they are just the right size to be used as 1/72nd scale Trolls.

I only found the 4 of them in my collection of old metal bods, pity as I would like a couple more.

The boss and his right hand man troll

Bip and snot..

A bit chunkier than their Orc mates but then a troll would be

I like thier faces...

Hello to Thomas from Project Mollwitz blog. A project to recreate the Battle of
Mollwitz April 1741 between Austria and Prussia
He also has another two blogs, at one of which, Schmock Blog.de, he is running a "giveaway"
And welcome to Alan (Tangfastico ) He´s just started out in the blogging world...with his blog Model Madness.

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Another scratchbuild..this time a Tonnelon. It was apparently used in the 12th century and the name means Little barrel, because empty wine barrels were used to make the gondolas.
The idea was to use the front gondola to get above an enemy wall and shoot into the areas behind..the second gondola was for another archer /crossbowman to provide covering fire.
It was a real device..honest!!! . The only actual link I´ve found with an explantion is in German or French...HERE

The main construction, platform and wheels, are made from card and Balsawood. The masts are old paintbrushes cut down to purpose. The barrels, plastic bottle tops..the type that come from those pump spray bottles. Simply scratch the surface with sandpaper and glue on the strips of card using silicon.

Just visible underneath the platform is a big brass washer which acts as a counter balance. The construction for the barrely involved using plastic bottle caps, which when the cardboard planking effects were added it made them heavy. I suppose in real life the platform would be heavy enough.

Wnding gear from florists wire.

The hinges for the front barrel and the roller for the rope on the "mast" were made using the inner from a biro (proving usefull ) Slightly heat one end and then pressed against a flat surface, it flattens out. For the roller, both ends.

Hello to Brian from Lead Legion blog. Brian does a mini painting service and avery nice job he does too.

Monday, 16 July 2012

Not many pics of this type of thing on the web but they turn up frequently in medieval films..
Where they get their designs from I can´t imagine.
Anyway..I wanted one in my collection and as there´s no such kit in 1/72nd..I had to build one.
The whole thing was made from card and balsawood. The leaded windows and door hinges are left overs from one of the Fredericus-rex houses.

So far I´ve only added the horses but the passengers and driver(s) will come later.
Good candidates look like they could come from THIS very nice looking set or THIS one.

The door and side supports made from bits of Balsawood. The hooks on the back of the door made with bits of wire.

The hinges are made using theink tube from a biro which is then wrapped in cardboard. When it´s completely dry and painted the plastic rings can be pushed out . This made them a perfect fit for a cocktail sick which connects all 4 hinges together, allowing the outside hinges to be glued which holds the toothpick firmly in place.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

These Art Miniaturen metal Norman Knights were a present from Wolfgang Meyer, the creator of the Croeburn 1813 dio.
They had no weapons, shields or nags but that wasn´t a problem. The only small problem was getting them to stay put on the horses. I solved it by putting a small blob of clear Silicon onto the saddles. The same to attach the shields.

Sunday, 8 July 2012

I don´t know. Mine came in the Esci box..with no instructions but it was cheap. Whilst looking on the web for the instructions I came across a set for the Academy ones. They look a lot more complicated..more parts etc and apparently Academy use Edward kits..so it may just be that the artwork from Esci was used.

Curses!!! i´ve just noticed the one of the rigging lines is lsack...a bit of heat treatment is called for.

Both the Esci /Academy version and the Revell version together. The Revell version came with an extensive range of Decals and is a good 1/2 a cm taller than the esci version. The Revell one was built a while back..I was still experimenting with stretched sprue for the rigging.

Hello to Freaky Fre from Freakyfesminiatures blog. Some really good stuff..the 28mm Gladiator and the Warhammer slave giant is cracking!! Fre, It looks like your google friends connection isn´t on and you have no followers thingy?